Rainy Dublin

Today we were greeted by two things as we disembarked the cruise ship in Dublin: rain, and a trio of musicians playing traditional Irish tunes at the bottom of the gangway.

Despite the rain, we had a good time exploring the city, with its Georgian architecture and fashionable shopping district along Grafton Street. Like the other cities we've explored so far, there is sculpture everywhere in Dublin -- two favorites for tourists to photograph are the one of Oscar Wilde and the one of Molly Malone ("the tart with the cart," as they call her over here).

Dublin is also, not surprisingly, loaded with pubs -- it's said that there are more pubs here than churches. We visited one pub that is at least 200 years old.

Dublin is also the home of Trinity College, founded in 1592. The campus has some very photogenic buildings, even on a gray day.

Along the way we learned a good bit about Ireland's history, including the impact of the potato famine in 1845: of the eight million people living in Ireland at the time, an astounding two million died in one year. We learned that, although Gaelic is no longer widely spoken and English is the country's primary language, every child must take Gaelic in school -- a hopeful sign for keeping that ancient language alive. And we learned of all the famous writers who at one time or another called Dublin home, including not only Oscar Wilde but Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift, and James Joyce, among others.

On the way back to the cruise ship after our morning outing, our guide sang "Molly Malone" (A.K.A. "Cockles and Mussels") to us, and encouraged us to join in on the chorus. It was a nice touch.

In Dublin's fair city
Where the girls are so pretty
I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone
As she wheel'd her wheel barrow
Through streets broad and narrow
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!

[Chorus]
Alive, alive o!, alive, alive o!
Crying cockles and mussels alive, alive o!